Battlefield 4 on Mantle should end up much faster

Mantle is the new AMD API that sits side by side with OpenGL and DirectX and offers an alternative. In theory it should provide much faster performance and more direct access to the "metal" or the chip itself.

Since AMD has three console win where PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are the two dominant ones, Mantle is more important than ever as a positive performance boost PC games has a good chance to translating into performance gains on the console version of the game, and vice versa of course.

We have spent some time talking to people close to the matter, both from EA/ DICA and AMD and we have learned that both parties anticipate a significant performance boost with the Mantle version of BF 4.

DICE and EA have already said that the patch to enable mantle is expected in December timeframe and there might be a demo showcase a bit earlier. Have in mind that AMD has developer summit starting on November 11th and we would be surprised if we don’t hear more details about Mantle.

We actually have confirmation from high ranking people at AMD’s graphics division that this conference is the venue where AMD plans to reveal more info on its new API. The eyes of the developer and gaming world are pointed towards Mantle as this might be the biggest change in PC gaming and console development in more than a decade.

At the same time, it might be just a marketing thing, but we will give AMD a chance and wait for some numbers before we draw any conclusion. Mantle sounds like a great thing, but let's see how it performs and have in mind that Microsoft is definitely not the biggest supporter of Mantle as it goes against its beloved DirectX 11 API that has been around for years now.